


The Perfect Christmas Eve

by VirginiasWolf



Category: Death in Paradise
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-12 09:21:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28508115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VirginiasWolf/pseuds/VirginiasWolf
Summary: Richard and Camille spend their first Christmas as a couple in Paris.
Relationships: Camille Bordey/Richard Poole
Comments: 12
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter 1

Lights twinkle brilliantly on the small tree that has been set up in the living room of the apartment. Camille has only been living here for a week, and her roommate isn’t exactly fond of major decorations anyway, but somehow this simple tree in an intimate Paris apartment is part of what she is sure is going to be the best Christmas Eve she has had in a long time.

Just a year ago she spent her night in her mother’s bar with a fake smile plastered on to hide how much pain she was in as she tried to avoid Humphrey Goodman’s clumsy and not remotely discreet advances. Tonight she has hope.

She also has a particularly appealing present that she can’t wait to unwrap after the evening is through. As soon as she finishes this thought, the present in question enters the room clad in simple blue jeans and a blue v-neck sweater. There is more than a hint of nervousness in his green eyes.

“Shall we open our presents before or after the video conference with your mother,” he asks, attempting to perhaps distract from the planned conference all together.

“Do not be a nervous Richard,” she can’t help but tease, “but I think we have time before. Who knows how late Maman will have us on the call.”

“Oh I’m sure your mother will…” Richard starts to speak before apparently feeling guilty. “I just don’t think she’ll like seeing me again, especially now that we’re, you know.”

It’s almost adorable how he seems unable to outright state that they are now in a romantic relationship serious enough to have led to moving in together after four months, but she also detects a lack of confidence in his voice. He can’t see himself as a desirable partner despite the fact that he really is a prince in so many ways she never expected. He may not be the most flowery romantic, but he also has never picked up on the whole stigma that so many men put behind doing non-sexual things simply to make their partners feel good. To put things simply, Camille has spent the last four months feeling thoroughly loved and spoiled and she hopes this feeling never ends. 

“Richard, I know Maman will be shocked to see you at first, but she will also recognize that I am happier with you than I have been in a long time. You are an amazing boyfriend. The best I have ever had in fact and I feel so lucky to be with you.”

“Oh. Well, I was under the impression that I was the lucky one,” Richard teases with a goofy smile that reminds her of how much he really has warmed up since they became a couple.

“Well, I think we can both consider ourselves lucky to have found in eachother two halves that fit together so perfectly.”

The sentimentality is apparently too much for Richard to handle and he shyly averts his gaze. “Would you umm...would you like to open your present?”

The box he presents her with is simply wrapped and small enough to easily sit on her lap as she opens it. A quick glance at Richard reveals that he looks nervous. Does he think she’ll hate the gift?

Careful unwrapping reveals a pair of purple suede gloves edged with a faux fur trim. “Oh Richard, they’re beautiful.”

“You always seem to have cold hands so I figured they were practical too, but I was worried you umm...you wouldn’t see it as a romantic gift and you’d hate them.”

“It is a romantic gift, because part of love is taking care of your partner and you knew I needed these,” Camille assures him. “And I got you a practical gift too.”

Richard opens his box in a fashion even more careful than she had hers, but when he lifts the lid of a small smile appears on his face. “Oh, ties.” He looks through the five ties for a moment, picking up the first four before lifting up the one at the bottom of the box with a look of confusion. “Rubber ducks?”

“Don’t look at it like that,” Camille laughs. “It made me think of when we were trapped together during Hurricane Irma. That was one of the first times you really opened up to me.”

“You told me you liked when I was just human and that you would always help me solve my puzzles,” Richard murmurs. “You know I...I may not always be the best at saying what you mean to me, but being with you really has saved me. I love you Camille.” He leans over and presses his lips to hers. 

The kiss deepens for a moment, but then he pulls away, leaving her confused. He may have just been incredibly sweet, but he will still be in big trouble if he is attempting to get out of having a video call with her mother. “Where are you going?”

“To warm up dinner.”

As if on cue, Camille’s stomach begins to growl. Had Richard known this would happen?

The small kitchen is just off of the living room and Camille watches him as he prepares their plates.

“I can feel you watching me,” he states without turning around.

“You have a cute butt.”

“My god woman, I am trying to keep you from starving and you’re objectifying me?”

The mock indignation sends Camille into a fit of giggles that she still hasn’t recovered from when the TV blinks with a notification for an incoming Skype call.

Camille wipes her eyes as she clicks to answer. Onscreen before her is not just her mother, but also Humphrey, Florence and a young man she assumes must be JP. For the briefest of moments Camille does feel bad that Humphrey is there. Before she left the island he'd fancied himself in love with her, and although she could never have returned the affections she'd allowed him to kiss her before she left and accepted a gift from him in hopes that it would pacify him.

The feelings of guilt are gone quickly though.

"Are you okay," her mother asks.

"Yes. I was laughing Maman."

"At my expense." Richard probably isn't thinking about the effect his comment will have. They don't really fight anymore like they had on the island, but they banter and affectionately tease each other quite often. This is a natural quip and Camille wants to instinctively roll her eyes.

However, on the screen her mother claps a shocked hand over her mouth and gasps, "Mon dieu." Her eyes begin to prick with tears.

The other three faces onscreen exchange confused looks until Dwayne's voice asks from off camera, "What happened?"

"Well, Camille broke her mother," Humphrey states.

This time Camille does roll her eyes before looking at Richard who is now standing in the kitchen doorway holding two food plates and looking uncertain if he should join her on the couch or not.

“Come to me please, mon couer,” Camille requests, suddenly feeling as if she is talking to a scared animal.

However, her tone seems to be the perfect thing to calm Richard and he makes his way over to the couch.

Camille has just enough time to lay her head on his shoulder before Dwayne lets out an excited “Chief!”

Richard jumps slightly, thankfully not dislodging Camille in the process, however she does note that onscreen Humphrey looks very jealous.

“I know you already know Maman and Dwayne, but I’d like you to meet Humphrey Goodman, Florence Cassell and JP…”

“Hooper,” the young officer supplies his own last name for Camille.

“Yes, Hooper. Everybody, this is my boyfriend Richard Poole.”

“Chief, how did you survive?”

Camille can feel Richard tensing in response to the question. He doesn’t like all attention being on him. 

“Dwayne, can we discuss a less morbid topic? It is Christmas Eve after all.” Camille attempts a deflection.

Thankfully it works. For a time the conversation follows what has happened on the island, including Florence's almost comedic attempts to teach Humphrey how to properly woo a woman, although hearing of the excess of help needed makes Camille thankful that she has a man who knows how to win her.

Of course Dwayne does use the talk of romantic hijinks to circle back to putting Richard in the spotlight. "So Chief, how did you manage to woo Camille?"

Richard tenses. 

It’s obvious to Camille that Dwayne is asking not because he thinks they are an ill fit, but because he wants to know about when Richard finally got the courage to take the plunge. However, she also knows that due to a lifetime of alienation and bullying her boyfriend likely hears a question as to why she would want to be with him, and this is something she must fix immediately. “Because he is a perfect gentleman, and he spoils me rotten.”

“Well, I hardly think treating you with the affection and respect you deserve qualifies as spoiling you rotten,” Richard snorts. He’ll probably never fully get that although the things he does for her are technically just treating her with the respect she deserves, they also fit a standard most men refuse to follow. However, as long as he doesn’t stop she doesn’t care if he never realizes how powerful they are.

“Well, I think he’s my Prince Charming, and I love him,” Camille states.

Richard huffs, but it’s obvious that he is secretly pleased by the comment.

The conversation continues for several more minutes, possibly even another hour, before Camille feels her lids growing heavy. She certainly doesn’t want to fall asleep during a Skype call with her mother and friends, but she is exhausted and oh so comfortable. The last thing she remembers before falling asleep is Richard wrapping a warm blanket around her and allowing her to lie with her head on his lap.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Italics is a flashback btw

Richard had been pleasantly surprised to realize that Catherine didn’t hate him. She had clearly been shocked at first, but then she had almost looked relieved. Of course the most dramatic reaction had been from Dwayne, but even the ones he had never met looked happy to see him, perhaps over Camille being happy. Well, the current DS and the young officer who reminded him of Fidel looked happy to see him. The DI was sulking, and clearly filled with so much jealousy that even Richard could read his body language.

It didn’t take long to connect the man to a conversation he’d had with Camille shortly after she’d arrived in Paris.

_ “Oh your replacement is so infuriating!” _

_ “Why? What did he do?” _

_ “I’m not a person to him. Not a full one anyway. And did I mention that he thinks he’s in love with me?!” _

_ “How could he be in love with you if he doesn’t see you as a person?” _

_ “Oh Richard, I don’t think he was intentionally objectifying me, but I think he saw my personality as going no deeper than the fact that I am a brown-skinned woman and I am from the Caribbean. Every time I would do something that would fit into that stereotype he had for me he would act as if I was doing it just for him to stare at me. One time Fidel even told me that he decided I had to be his one because I was dancing in Maman’s bar! You can’t just fall in love with someone because they enjoy dancing, not into real love anyway.” _

In that moment, although Richard hadn’t yet realized that he was the one she was already in love with, he vowed that if he ever encountered this man he’d give him a piece of his mind about treating Camille as more than a stereotype. A Christmas Eve Skype call doesn’t feel like the appropriate place to do so though, especially not after Camille falls asleep on his lap wrapped in her favorite quilt, which is a thrift store one covered in patchwork teddy bears.

Not to mention, Catherine almost immediately has him distracted. “Why is my daughter so tired?”

In the past Richard might have taken offense to this question, but he realizes now that she’s worried about Camille. “Umm, we just moved in a week ago so there’s been a lot of unpacking and we spent most of today at the Holiday Market.”

“You moved into your apartment a week before Christmas?”

“Yep. We started to look for a place back in November, but it took a while to find a two bedroom one in the right price range, and Camille really wanted us to be near a historic district.”

“You two don’t sleep in the same bed?” That one is a bit invasive, but the French aren’t exactly the best with boundaries.

“The second bedroom is our home office. Figured we needed space for our computers and a couple shelves for our books.”

“Camille reads?” That one is from the idiot DI. 

Richard immediately understands why Camille believes Humphrey only sees her as a stereotype and he isn’t the only one who looks upset. 

In fact Catherine’s face is contorted into the kind of hard scowl he once thought was reserved for him. “When she was a little girl she would always stop in the middle of reading to talk about the book.”

At this comment Richard can’t help but smile and glance at his sleeping partner. “She umm...she still does that. She bought a book about holiday traditions at the market today and I’m sure tomorrow morning she’ll spend more time telling me about them than she will actually reading.” After a pause he adds, “I don’t really mind because it makes her happy.”

This was apparently the correct response, as Catherine is no longer frowning. “Did you enjoy the market?”

“It was a bit brisk even for my tastes, but there was a lot of culture to take in and we were able to get some shopping done even if Camille did insist on photographing everything. I’m sure she’ll send some of the photos your way soon.”

It is at this moment that Richard realizes absently that he’s been mainly talking to Catherine. He needs to make an effort with the others. Well maybe not all the others. He learns about how JP deals with having Catherine as a landlady, how Florence handles being DS and how Dwayne is just Dwayne before realizing that yet another hour has passed meaning this call has gone on for nearly four hours.

At some point he also realizes his lovely girlfriend must have moved in her sleep as his hand is now pinned in between her back and the couch and has long since lost feeling. A perfect reason to end the call.

“Well, it’s been lovely seeing all of you, but I fear it’s quite late here and Camille isn’t the only one who needs to sleep.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> There is a scene where Catherine tells the third DI that she used to worry about Camille being so far away, but now she accepts it, so I kind of wanted this to be a moment of realization. I also kind of pictured that Richard just continues the call while Camille sleeps and maybe plays with her hair or rubs her back, or both.


End file.
